Archives - 18 January 2018, Thursday

After the rise and fall of Henrik Fisker's former automotive venture, a number of analysts and enthusiasts are skeptical about his newest company—Fisker, Inc.—and its first creation, the EMotion electric sedan. It's not hard to see why. The second company bearing the Fisker name has m...

Rhode Island license plate. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Enlarge Photo Tesla can now add another notch to its sales board. Rhode Island will allow the direct sale of Teslas and has issued a state dealer license to the company to open a dealer in Warwick. Additionally, the city itself ...

To help accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today launched its new EV Charge Network program. Partnering with business customers and EV charging companies, PG&E will install 7,500 EV chargers at condominiums, apartment bu...

The Nissan Xmotion concept garnered the “Innovative Use of Color, Graphics or Materials” award at the 2018 North American International Auto Show. The award was one of several bestowed by the prestigious collective of automotive designers known as EyesOn Design. The Xmotion concept , ...

Sergio Marchionne Enlarge Photo Back in 2013, Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo proclaimed, "I don’t believe in the electric cars"—all but solidifying the automaker's position for the future. Even as recently as 2016, current Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne called the possibilit...

The INFINITI Q Inspiration Concept was named “Best Concept Vehicle” and also awarded “Best Designed Interior” by EyesOn Design at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show . The annual EyesOn Design Awards, given in seven categories, are selected by more than 30 active and retired design heads of au...

Riversimple is aiming to revolutionise the car industry by making it more sustainable. After recognising the impact the car industry has on the environment, lead engineer and co-founder of Riversimple, Hugo Spowers, designed an electric car that will never be sold. Riversimple aims to...

After several advocacies raised the alarm over the prospect of Toyota lending its management expertise to the U.S. EPA, Toyota said it has decided against it at this time. The specific division within Toyota is more accurately Toyota Systems Production Support Center (TSSC), which for...

Airspace Experience Technologies, LLC, a subsidiary of Detroit Aircraft Corp, has revealed a sub-scale model of its autonomous, electric VTOL aircraft, "MOBi-ONE,". MOBi-ONE is designed to autonomously takeoff like a helicopter, fly like a plane, and transport passengers or cargo betw...

2018 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid After nearly five years of delays and recalls, Mitsubishi dealerships are now selling the Outlander Plug-in Hybrid. The company reported the first 100 sales in December. “The highly anticipated Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle just beg...

“In the Xmotion concept, we explored the more rugged and powerful side of Nissan Intelligent Mobility. Bold and powerful forms and proportions are, upon closer inspection, contrasted with aspects of traditional Japanese craftsmanship expressed in a contemporary way,” said Alfonso Alba...

As part of Ford’s overall strategy, many of its vehicles will have plug-in hybrid variants in the next few years, including the F-150. During a press event at the 2018 North American International Auto Show, Ford teased the upcoming F-150 variant that provided a few details on the fir...

Compared to previous years, overall car-sales growth in the U.S. has all but plateaued at around 17.5 million. China is doing little better, with growth reaching just 3 percent for 2017. But the Chinese new-vehicle market is undergoing a seismic shift in which types of cars are sold. ...

The supercar-esque sedan, which Fisker hopes will steal customers away from rival Tesla, should produce 775 horsepower from its multiple electric motors, feature all-wheel drive, and offer more than 300 miles of driving range from its massive 140 kilowatt-hour battery pack.

The Nissan LEAF, the brand’s 100% electric vehicle and global sales leader in the segment, was awarded the “2018 FIPA Green Car of the Year” in Detroit today from the Inter-American Federation of Automobile Journalists (FIPA). The new Nissan LEAF scored highest result among nine other...

John Voelcker Jan 17, 2018 Follow John Add to circle Vehicle launches at auto shows include a dance between automakers, which only want certain information revealed, and journalists, who want to put specific news items into a bigger and broader context. For the 2019 Chevrolet Silverad...

Nissan’s luxury brand INFINITI Motor Company will introduce new vehicles with electrified powertrains from 2021, according to Nissan Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa, speaking at the Automotive News World Congress on Tuesday. All new Infiniti models launched from 2021 will be ei...

John Voelcker Jan 17, 2018 Follow John Add to circle 2018 Nissan Leaf Enlarge Photo Experienced survey companies know that what people say they will do and what they actually end up doing are sometimes two different things. They also know that picking the correct survey group to repre...

Although many electric light vehicles have shorter ranges between “refuels” than gasoline vehicles, some EVs have ranges equal to or greater than some gasoline-powered models. For the 2017 model year (MY) the maximum range for an all-electric vehicle (AEV) is 335 miles (Tesla Model S ...

Holding a niche all of its own, e-Power is a range-extended hybrid , with the driven wheels powered only by an electric motor. There is also a small engine fitted to act as an on-board generator, charging the car's battery. However, unlike most range-extended EVs, e-Power cannot be ch...

17.1.2018 UK warned 60% of new cars in 2030 need to be electric Meeting emissions targets will require improved support for electric cars The government has been told that electric cars will need to make up 60% of sales by 2030 in order to help the UK meet its environmental targets. T...

Toyota Tsusho and Orocobre have been long-term partners in the development of the Salar de Olaroz Lithium Facility in Jujuy Province in northern Argentina, a lithium brine project, which was brought into successful production in 2014. The operations are at an altitude of 3,900 metres ...

Ford will significantly increase its planned investments in electric vehicles to $11 billion by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles in its model lineup, Chairman Bill Ford said on Sunday at the Detroit auto show. He also said that electric vehicles would reduce congest...

Last year the plug-in electrified vehicle market rose in the U.S., with the five best sellers carrying an outsized proportion of the total sales. Americans bought 195,479 PEVs in 2017 , a healthy increase over 2016’s tally of 157,181. Of the 2017 sales, 89,992 were from 24 models of p...

Detroit earned its Motor City name by being the heart of the U.S. automotive revolution and some new vehicle manufacturers still consider the Michigan city to be where they need to be in order to succeed. The newest outfit to announce moving operations to Detroit is Bollinger Motors. ...

Capitalizing off its successful unveiling at the 2018 Consumer Electronic Show (CES), the Hyundai NEXO Fuel Cell Vehicle has received another accolade as the Digital Trends Top Tech of CES 2018 in the automotive category. The publication highlights the Hyundai NEXO as a top product in...

Researchers from the University of Michigan published a study this week about the relative costs of driving an EV versus a gas car. While it’s widely accepted that a key advantage of a plug-in car is its use of cheap electric fuel, calculating exactly how much you will save is a trick...